GiffGaff - Time to untether

I've been using GiffGaff for over a year now. Today I saw this for the first time:

So now I'm offline for a few minutes - so I'm using that time to write this blog post as a first-step to switching provider.

Problems with GiffGaff

Over the years, there have been a lot of problems with GiffGaff:

They have had several complete network outages for several hours

Sometimes when there hasn't been an outage, I've seen really weird behaviour

Their international charges are really high

Sometimes I run out of credit without realising it and find myself unable to make calls for a while

These issues occur just often enough to be quite annoying, but not quite often enough to be a deal breaker.

The redeeming feature

The redeeming feature of GiffGaff was always the internet. The speeds are pretty good, they genuinely give you unlimited data - in that I use a lot and they've never pulled me up on it.

And while it's true that their terms of service say you can't tether, I tether often (on trains, in coffee shops, when my home internet is down for some reason etc.) and it's so very useful to be able to do so.

Also, I don't like the idea of limiting people's internet usage by what device they decide to use. Either GiffGaff can afford to offer unlimited internet or they can't. How people choose to use their internet, or indeed what device they are using it from, is their business, and none of GiffGaff's (or O2's).

Goodbye GiffGaff

So if I can't tether, I'm afraid, on balance, GiffGaff is just no longer worth it. And we are now ideologically at odds.

Fortunately, another good feature of GiffGaff is that you can leave whenever you like. So that's exactly what I'm going to do.

Hello Three

Three also offer unlimited internet, but they don't mind you tethering. So I'm going to get myself an £18 monthly SIM from Three.